Senate approves caps on political contributions, House approval next step

Friday

May 29, 2009 at 12:01 AMMay 29, 2009 at 12:44 AM

Relying mostly on Democrats' support, the Illinois Senate on Thursday voted to cap some contributions to political candidates as part of a campaign-finance overhaul endorsed by Gov. Pat Quinn but rejected by his Illinois Reform Commission.

Adriana Colindres

Relying mostly on Democrats' support, the Illinois Senate voted Thursday night to cap some contributions to political candidates as part of a campaign-finance overhaul endorsed by Gov. Pat Quinn but rejected by his Illinois Reform Commission.

Commission members and Republican senators said the proposal is full of loopholes and should be improved before the adjournment of the spring legislative session, scheduled for Sunday.

But the latest version of House Bill 7 cleared the Senate, 36-22, largely along party lines. It heads to the House of Representatives. To become law, it must pass there and get signed by the governor.

Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine, said the bill was written to ensure that legislative leaders don't lose political power.

"This is a cynical ploy to convince the people of this state that real change has come to this Capitol," he said.

Supporters of the measure admitted it is imperfect.

"But there is much good," said Sen. Don Harmon, the Oak Park Democrat who sponsored the bill and was the Senate Democrats' main negotiator.

It would for the first time impose limits on campaign contributions in Illinois.

"I think this is the best we can do at this time," Quinn told the Senate Executive Committee as he testified in favor of the bill Thursday afternoon.

Opponents pointed to what they described as gaping holes in the proposal.

For example, they said, it imposes some caps on campaign contributions, but doesn't limit how much the legislative leaders' political committees can give in the form of "in-kind" contributions to candidates.

"Illinois deserves a campaign finance bill that is the model for the nation," said the Reform Commission's chairman, Patrick Collins. "This bill can be better."

Under the legislation, a single-candidate committee may collect a maximum of $5,000 from individuals; $10,000 from a labor union, corporation or association; and $90,000 in fund transfers from a political committee.

A multi-candidate committee, such as the funds controlled by legislative leaders, may collect a maximum of $10,000 from an individual; $20,000 from a labor union, corporation or association; and $90,000 in fund transfers from a political committee.

The new rules would take effect in 2011.

The measure also would permit the creation of new "constituent service" committees to collect funds to help pay for operating lawmakers' district offices. In addition, political committees would have to file financial disclosure reports once a quarter, instead of once every six months.

Another provision prohibits the state Democratic Party, headed by House Speaker Michael Madigan, from making endorsements in primary elections.

The bill also would create a task force to study public financing of judicial campaigns, with its report due in 2012.

After the Senate committee advanced the bill along partisan lines, Reform Commission members expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome of their efforts at cleaning up state government.

Corruption charges against two consecutive Illinois governors, Republican George Ryan and Democrat Rod Blagojevich, should have set the stage for dramatic political reform, they said at a State Capitol news conference.

"We believe more could have been done, and frankly more should have been done," Collins said. "What I'm most disappointed by is this opportunity is not going to come by again."

Another member, David Hoffman, said the final draft of the campaign-finance plan didn't surface until almost the last minute. He thinks too much legislation gets hammered out behind closed doors, and the process ought to be more transparent.

"It just doesn't have to be this way," he said.

Earlier Thursday, a House of Representatives committee unanimously advanced legislation that would ask voters if they want recall power so they could fire a sitting governor. It is House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 31.

If the measure passes in the full House and Senate, the recall question would be put to voters in the November 2010 general election.

That's also when Illinois voters will be choosing their next governor. Quinn, who took over the top job when Blagojevich was ousted, has indicated he plans to seek election as governor next year.

Recalling a sitting governor would require collecting signatures from 30 lawmakers on an affidavit. The next step would involve collecting voters' signatures on petitions, with a minimum threshold of 15 percent of the number of voters who cast ballots in the last gubernatorial election.

Voters then would decide in a special election whether to remove the governor. A successor would be chosen in a subsequent election.

Another reform issue, a proposed revision of the state's redistricting process, won't get resolved until later this year, at the soonest.

Reform Commission member Brad McMillan said Quinn has committed to calling a special legislative session this fall on redistricting, which involves redrawing legislative and congressional boundaries every decade.

Democratic Senator Kwame Raoul announced the Illinois Senate Redistricting Committee that he chairs would conduct four public hearings throughout the state this summer to consider ideas for redistricting reform.

Adriana Colindres can be reached at (217) 782-6292 or adriana.colindres@sj-r.com.

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